


Battle-tested

by Saraste



Series: A month of nwalin [12]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Battle of Five Armies, Battle of Five Armies Fix-It, Braids, Canon Typical Violence, Dwarf Courting, Dwarf Culture & Customs, Fiori - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Ri Family Feels, injuries, nwalin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 02:11:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9299489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saraste/pseuds/Saraste
Summary: The Battle of the Five Armies is over and all Nori wants is to see if Dwalin survives. Ori is there for the ride, but with his own agenda, as he really would like to see a Durin of his own as having survived.





	

Dwalin goes to battle with Nori’s braids in his hair, axes held high, battle-lust pounding in his veins. Nori goes to battle with stealth, Dwalin’s braids in his hair, and his heart full of those he needs to defend at all costs. 

 

Dwalin knows what to do, has been in battle.

 

Nori…

 

Nori hasn’t. 

 

His experience of fighting is tavern brawls and fellow shady characters trying to knife him to shut him up or for their own amusement. But, before the Quest, he only ever traded blows with fellow dwarrow and a handful of male Men who got a little bit handsy in their cups, mistaking Nori’s hair for indication of something it wasn’t.

 

His experience is nothing when fighting with orcs. Not even after their skirmishes during the Quest. 

 

After… after the clash of steel on still has ended, after they have  _ won _ , the battlefield is filled with the groans of the wounded. Nori aches, knows he’s hurt in his side, but hurts more for not knowing exactly where Dwalin  _ is _ . He’d stayed with Ori, who has his own worries, and Nori is comforted that his sibling is mostly whole, and Dori also, seen in the distance.

 

But Dwalin. Dwalin is somewhere unknown to Nori, now. 

 

‘That wound needs tending,’ Ori tells him.

 

Nori glances at him, sees the bruises across Ori’s cheek. ‘You’re one to talk.’

 

‘I’m not the one bleeding, you know what Dori will say.’

 

‘Well Dori isn’t here, is he? I need... ‘ 

 

His blood-slippery hand grasps for the comforting shape of his courting braid,  _ Dwalin’s braid _ , in his hair and… everything seems to stop. His hand meets nothing. He casts Ori an accusing glance, only for his sibling to look away. Ori was sparing him from the truth. From thinking about all those old tales… Because Nori’s courting braid has been hacked in twain. Because, in old tales told by firelight, the injury to a braid, a courting braid, would always be visited on the one who braided it. 

 

Nori’s hands shake. ‘You didn’t…’

 

Ori’s hand is on his arm and Nori flinches, then flinches anew as his wound sends a lance of pain through him. ‘I’m sorry, I…’

 

‘Dwalin. I need Dwalin.’

‘He was near Thorin and…’ Ori doesn’t finish and Nori knows why. 

 

Because Ori also has someone special he wants to see now, who he needs to have survived the battle. Nori just hopes that, if they survived, the foolish princeling  _ will _ realize Ori’s worth and give him the courting braid he didn’t get before the eve of battle. At least Nori has that. Had. He needs to find his bead, the lovely bead Dwalin braided him with before they set off from Ered Luin. His hands shake and he feels like he can’t breathe. He tastes blood in his mouth. Hopes there isn’t any on his lips.

 

‘Which way. I  _ need  _ him.’

 

Ori grabs to waylay him. ‘What you need is a healer, Nori. There’s blood on your lips.’ He’s worried.

 

‘I bit my tongue.’ The lie comes easy, half a lie at any rate, as Nori has actually also bit his tongue.

 

‘You’re lying.’

 

Nori stands his ground, fixing Ori with a glare, ignoring the throbbing in his side. It had been such a little thing, near the end of the battle, a rent in his mail, a lucky hit… He knows that he should be rational, should go seek a healer, if there is one to be had. He doesn’t like this throbbing ache, the wet rattle of his breath. 

 

He grabs Ori’s hand on his arm, looks his brother firmly.’I  _ need _ Dwalin. Have to find him.’

 

Ori puffs up, then shakes his head. ‘I’m coming with you.’

 

Nori cannot but accept. Knows Ori will need him if… if… and he’ll need Ori if… He cannot think such things, not when nothing is wrong yet. Nothing  _ is  _ wrong.

 

*

 

Dwalin’s standing up by three fallen figures when Nori and Ori reach him. Their trek through the dead and dying had been arduous, and Nori’s ready to keel over when he sees that Dwalin is fine, fine, fine, indisputably alive. Spattered with orc blood, but who isn’t? Then Nori realizes, hears Ori’s gasp.

 

Ori slips from under Nori’s shoulder before Nori can brace himself, but Dwalin’s there to keep him up. ‘You’re alive,’ Dwalin says as he sweeps Nori off his feet, armor and all, holding him close. Nori has never minded being handled like that less in his life. Even if there’s a stab of pain through his side. And he coughs blood. At least he’s not on his feet any longer.

 

‘ _ You’re alive _ .’ Nori looks at Dwalin in amazement, then turns to see Ori kneeling beside Fíli, taking hold of his hand, squeezing back. 

 

‘They’re alive, though barely,’ Dwalin says and Nori sees their Burglar with Thorin’s head in his lap. Their King seems to want to argue, deep down, but is lost in looking at the Hobbit.

 

‘I might need a healer,’ Nori says next, trying to breathe through the pain. Everything will be alright now he’s with Dwalin. ‘And I need a new braid… I…’

 

Dwalin’s fingers feel his head and he looks angry. ‘Some ugly stinking orc  _ dared _ …’

 

‘But you’re alive, so you can braid it back in again, yes?’

 

‘Always.’ 

 

And he is.


End file.
